Easiest prediction I will ever make.
The more wealth and power bitcoiners attain, the more they will imitate the current ruling class’s desire for control.
Discussion
The "influencencers" already do
At which point they lose the title of "bitcoiner" in my book.
Feudalism on a whole new level
You can already see OG Bitcoiner securing their land and building their kingdoms
Agree and disagree somewhat. Wealth purely magnifies your personality. If you’re someone who craves power and control, Bitcoin will increase that. If you’re someone who wants to do good in the world, Bitcoin will increase that.
This is actually proven not to be true, many experiments have been done. Humans naturally turn meaner, more egotistical, less socially responsible and more selfish as soon as they achieve financial privilege over others.
There’s contradictory information on both sides. My anecdotal evidence aligns with my original thought. 🤷♂️
I like this quote from nostr:nprofile1qqsx45yrjtgm4glklaafgz0z4309gs6cwfja3d99s8rqvlvgagcptpqprpmhxue69uhhqun9d45h2mfwwpexjmtpdshxuet54gjttu in his book The Bushido of Bitcoin:
“What a failure it would ultimately be for Bitcoin to win the economic game, only for those who hold all the Bitcoin to become like the very parasites they deposed.”
A very profound statement for sure.
Humans 🥳🤓🖖
There have always been rulers. Just differs in their ability to plunder without consent/rebellion. Aka gold standard vs fiat.
Unless living in deflation changes the incentives.
"Those who do not stack Sats are destined to work for those that do."
I think a lot about how to build a revolutionary political structure on top of Nostr. Its decentralized, censorship-resistant nature with bitcoin integration makes it a deeply powerful platform when synthesized with a vanguardist political movement—I think we would have a really killer app. The powers-that-be would try to stomp it out, and have historically been successful at that because they can censor, ban, and debunk them—such things would not be possible with this movement.
Such a movement would need to be vanguardist in nature, revolutionary in its educational capacity, and focused purely on revolutionary capacity vs politic partyism. This would be a lot of work, effort, and risk; but more and more I am coming to believe that it is the only way forward if we are going to offer posterity anything other than slavery. - Erik Cason
So? Controlling your local county is much different than controlling an entire state or country.
Also, if the low time preference of the money cascades into raw materials, our agricultural practices will improve not degrade both soil and human health which is the foundation of culture so that will already lead to a dramatically different world.
Is "wealth" "power"? Many Bitcoiners come from a libertarian intellectual bent that would see some distinction between these two.
I think a good "tell" here is going to be the extent to which people who have profit windfalls from BTC either (a) keep it in BTC and invest and spend it as such, or (b) sell it for fiat so they can play the traditional "wealth and power" game as already articulated.
Depends on your definition of “Bitcoiners”
Yeah that definition will change as the rulers buy it
And when bitcoiners communicate “if you want some of my wealth, you can just make great stuff”, with “more government” not being great stuff.
This inevitable behavior is why Bitcoin was invented in the first place.
Way more of us though.
Yep!
Like taking over / controlling Core?
#bitcoin
Ain’t nothing new under the sun
I'll be a benevolant tyrant, fwiw. Expect incentives to be highly leveraged.
No way, they are decentralized degens!!! Or it will turn out like Obi and Anakin…. Is Saylor the emperor?
Absolutely precise and insightful! Even those who admire free and decentralized systems, once they gain power, are tempted to control and emulate the current rulers.
It doesn't take much for some supposedly libertarians to turn authoritarian when the feel they've made it.
Of course there are latent psychopaths everywhere, even among your friends. But true power lies not in wealth, but in community. I challenge the wealthy to build community. Hint: it's not something you can buy.
That's what makes bitcoin so unique and amazing. As they spend their bitcoin trying to attain it that will ultimately be their undoing as it will be redistributed limiting their power longterm.
Incredible really the world we're moving into.
Human nature
Power and wealth but no education make Jack another tyrant.
A prisoner of his own greed, with hands full, but his soul empty.
Humans doing human things. Our technology changes yet we are bound by our biology.
Lucky we always have a choice we can make.
Discernment is an underrated skill.
🫂💚
perhaps ..,
but bitcoiners' power was not obtained & is not sustained by control, abuse & enslavement, so its incentives are different
incentives are the key to everything, bitcoiners represent a new & growing power structure who's incentives are unlike all power structures which have come before
the power is rooted in freedom & agency ... but then agin, power corrupts ... so let's find out ...
Too right!
Ego-maniacs ….
They’ve existed throughout history and the evolution of man - Bitcoiners have the same demographic in this time, always has always will!
M
Money - of which Bitcoin is the greatest form ever - is an amplifier. If you are an asshole, it’ll make you more of one, if you are a saint, it’ll make you a greater one.
My hope is Bitcoin being simple and honest, the percentage of wealthy Bitcoiners who skew ‘moral’ will be higher.
We aren’t going to build some silly Utopia, but thoughtfully endowed art, architecture, and institutions that point towards the True, Good, and Beautiful would be a massive improvement.